Immigration Detention Facilities at Maximum Capacity: ICE Official

The federal government is seeking more bed space for detained illegal immigrants.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent detains an illegal immigrant in an undated file photograph. John Moore/Getty Images

U.S. immigration detention facilities have reached capacity at about 47,600 beds, a top-level U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official said on March 12 in a call with reporters.

The federal government is now seeking more bed space for detained illegal immigrants, added the official, who requested anonymity as a condition of the call.

ICE is now expanding its capacity with support from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Currently, ICE has funding to support an average bed space of more than 41,500 detainees, the official said, adding that ICE is working with lawmakers to obtain more funding to increase capacity.

Throughout the 2024 campaign and after taking office, President Donald Trump vowed there would be a mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Trump said that such a move is needed after the high volume of illegal immigration under the previous administration.

Trump issued executive orders targeting illegal immigration and bolstering security along the U.S.–Mexico border. He has directed ICE agents to step up enforcement actions across major U.S. cities, with top officials including border czar Tom Homan saying they are targeting illegal immigrants with criminal histories or who are a threat to public safety.

Orders and directives that the administration has carried out include declaring a national emergency along the southern U.S. border, halting some refugee admissions, ending the previous “catch and release” policy, requiring people who are seeking asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico while waiting for court hearings, limiting the temporary protected status of people from certain countries, declining to recognize birthright citizenship, and other measures.

The number of encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border has dropped significantly since Trump took office in January, according to recent data.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the order ending birthright citizenship, with several judges blocking Trump’s order. On March 11, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court’s block of the order and denied a motion from the Department of Justice’s legal team to immediately overturn the district court’s ruling.

Another directive that has been challenged in court is Trump’s decision to send some illegal immigrants to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit to block transfers to the base, which had been used to house terrorism suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Some of the illegal immigrants who were sent to the base have already been deported from Guantanamo Bay to Venezuela, officials have said.

Homan said on March 4 that more funding is needed to continue the crackdown on illegal immigration, including for more beds and deportation flights.

“We need more beds, we need more enforcement assets, we need more air flights. This operation is going to cost money,” Homan told reporters at the White House in Washington. “We’re hitting on all cylinders, but we need more money to do more.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Reuters contributed to this report.